NEW YORK, November 28. /TASS/. The Iranian authorities have arrested the niece of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Farideh Moradkhani, after she called on foreign governments to sever ties with Tehran, CNN reported on Sunday, citing her brother, Mahmoud Moradkhani.
Moradkhani said on Twitter page that his sister was arrested on Wednesday when she went to the prosecutor’s office in response to a court order.
CNN says that in a video statement Mahmoud Moradkhani shared prior to his sister’s arrest, Farideh Moradkhani called on people around the world to urge their governments to cut ties with the Iranian regime amid protests sweeping the nation.
"Oh, free people, be with us and tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous regime," CNN quotes Farideh Moradkhani as saying.
Farideh and Mahmoud Moradkhani are the children of Ali Tehrani, a cleric and longtime opposition figure who was married to the supreme leader’s sister Badri Hosseini Khamenei. According to CNN, Tehrani died in October. Farideh Moradkhani had been arrested by the regime before.
The current two-month long tide of unrest in Iran began on September 16 after the funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. According to the official version, the police detained the young woman for improperly wearing her headscarf. During interrogation, she suffered a heart attack from which she died. However, rumors on social media said that Amini had been beaten by police. On October 7, Iran’s National Forensic Medicine Organization released an official report stating that Amini had suffered no injuries.